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LAWS OF THE GAME: ASK THE REFEREE

In response to various questions, the following are responses from the National Referee Program Office:

GOALKEEPER FOULS (?) OPPONENT WHILE HOLDING BALL

Question:
A GK makes a save and falls on his back within the penalty area. As he is getting up he kicks an opponent – non-violently - while still holding the ball and within the 6 seconds he has to release it. Is the ball still in play? Or is it out of play while the GK holds onto it? If it is in play and the referee blows his whistle to address the kicking of the opponent by the GK would not the restart be a PK and possibly caution of the GK?

Answer:
If the goalkeeper has not risen fully, the six-second period has not begun. It begins only when the goalkeeper is upright and in a position to assess the situation and judge where to play the ball. However, the matter of the six-second period is irrelevant if the referee decides the goalkeeper has committed a foul.

The referee must decide whether this was a deliberate act or simply an accident. If a deliberate act and thus a foul, then the restart is a penalty kick and the punishment would be either a caution or a send-off, depending on what the referee saw. It makes no difference whether the goalkeeper has used the allotted six seconds.

COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR ASSISTANT REFEREES

Question:
Near the end of the first half, an attacker with the ball is clearly tackled from behind in the penalty area. However the referee is screened at that moment and thinks the attacker merely tripped, so there is no whistle. The AR, who has a good view of the play, pops his flag, but the ball is immediately booted up field and the CR turns to follow the play and never sees the flag, which continues to be raised.

Seconds later, the CR blows the whistle for halftime. At that point he sees the AR with flag raised and consults with him. He accepts the AR's view that there was a trip but says that because the whistle has been blown to end the half, there can be no penalty kick. He does card the defender who tackled from behind however. Is this ruling correct? (Note: it might have helped if the second AR had mirrored the flag but unfortunately that did not happen.)

Answer:
IWhenever the assistant referee signals for a foul and the signal is not seen immediately and play continues for several seconds, the restart, when taken, must be in accordance with the Laws (free kick, penalty kick, etc.). In this situation play had not stopped and been restarted since the flag was raised, so, when the referee acknowledges the flag and accepts the assistant referee's information, the correct thing to do is to send off or caution (as appropriate to the act) the player involved and restart with the penalty kick.

In addition, the assistant referee should maintain a signal if a serious foul or misconduct is committed out of the referee's sight or when a goal has been scored illegally. The referee should cover this, and the original situation stated above, during the pregame conference with the assistant referees.

INFRINGEMENT OF LAW 14 PROCEDURE

Question:
On a penalty kick; the shooter is ready to take the kick, just as he is about to kick it his teammate commits a foul by running into the penalty area before the shooter makes contact with the ball. He shoots the ball, it goes in the goal but the point is not rewarded because of the foul committed by the teammate. Is appropriate restart of play an Indirect free kick from where the foul was committed, a goal kick or do they just retake the kick?

Answer:
What you describe as a "foul" is not a foul; it is a violation of the procedures for the taking of a penalty kick. In this particular case, Law 14 (The Penalty Kick) tells us that if a team-mate of the player taking the kick infringes the Laws of the Game:

* the referee allows the kick to be taken
* if the ball enters the goal, the kick is retaken
* if the ball does not enter the goal, the referee stops play and the match is restarted with an indirect free kick to the defending team, from the place where the infringement occurred.

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